Arriving at Amboseli National Park

After getting up at 5 this morning, we got all packed up and checked out of the hotel in Nairobi. There was a problem checking out, in that the hotel was trying to charge me for the hotel room that had already been pre-paid. They also kept trying to charge me twice for one chocolate bar that Mom ate from the mini-bar. The ordeal took about twenty minutes, but eventually we got the bill settled and were off to the small airport for our flight to Amboseli National Park! Checking in was a breeze! Our guide, Dennis, just went up to the counter and picked up these bookmark-looking things that turned out to be our "boarding passes". We didn't even have to show ID or even be seen by the airline staff. Good, safe times!

We boarded our tiny little aircraft and took a 45-minute flight to a dirt landing strip near Tsavo. The "runway" was just a dirt patch that was lined with white rocks and bones/skulls of dead animals. After we let off about half the plane, we took off for a quick 15-minute flight to Amboseli National Park. I was surprised that the runway was paved and everything! As we were landing, you could see the wildebeest and elephants outside roaming the plains. It was a neat experience. One of the first things we saw on arrival was Mt. Kilimanjaro in the background!









We climbed into our safari vehicle for the next couple of days and immediately noticed that there was room to stand up inside to have a clear view of game out of the roof of the vehicle.



We then went on our first game drive of the safari on our way to our lodge for the next two nights (Amboseli Serena Lodge). We were very lucky and saw tons of wildlife during our two hour drive. We saw Thompson gazelles (shown in the first picture, above) and elephants!



We also saw zebras, hippos and hyenas!









African buffalo and wildebeest were all over the place. In fact, one of the last things we saw before arriving at the lodge were seven female lions stalking a group of wildebeest!






It really was an amazing morning. I was surprised that we saw as much as we did our first morning out! And these pictures don't even include all the birds we saw like ostriches, eagles and so many more! I think I will have to break up blog posts into drives because there would be way too many pictures for one post if I waited until the end of the day...

At any rate, after the drive, we got checked into the hotel and noticed all the black-faced vervet monkeys hanging around and the signs telling us not to feed or play with them!



After getting settled, we had lunch and then a couple of hours until our 4pm game drive! I can't wait to see what we get to see next!!!

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Location:Kenya